Help Nasa design its next spacesuit

Nasa is letting members of the public
vote on its next spacesuit design, the Z-2. A prototype and follow
up to the popular Z-1, the Z-2 boasts a number of new features,
bringing it closer to approaching a final flight-capable
design.

The suit is the culmination of a number of important milestones
for Nasa, including: first surface-specific planetary mobility suit
to be tested in full vacuum; first use of 3D human laser scans and
3D-printed hardware for suit development and sizing; most advanced
use of impact resistant composite structures on a suit upper and
lower torso system and the first integration of the suit-port
concept with a hard, re-sizeable upper torso suit structure and the
most re-sizeable hard upper torso suit built to date.

Besides the typical fit checks and mobility evaluations, Nasa is
currently planning a comprehensive test campaign for the Z-2 suit,
including multiple vacuum chamber tests, which will mimic the lack
of atmosphere found in outer space.

The suit will be tested at Nasa's huge indoor pool at the
Neutral Buoyancy Lab (NBL), which they use to teach astronauts how
to spacewalk. Rocky Martian surface testing at the Johnson Space
Centre will also help Nasa evaluate mobility, comfort and
performance of the suit.

The Z-series is still in the prototype or non-flight phase --
which means you won't be seeing these design in space:

"The cover layer of a non-flight suit, which is used for
ground-based testing, serves as abrasion/snag protection, a cover
for technical details, and to a lesser extent, aesthetics",
explains Nasa. "For a flight suit which is actually used for a
spacewalk, the cover layer performs many other important functions
such as micrometeorite, thermal and radiation protection. These
requirements drive selection of specific high-performance materials
and design details that would preclude us from using many of the
features you see in these options for the Z-2 suit."

Users can select from three different suits: "Biomimicry",
"Technology" and "Trends in Society". Each design lives up to its
namesake. "Biomimicry" draws inspiration from the world's seas.
"Technology" has an eye-catching neon glow, reminiscent of
Tron and "Trends in Society" sports several swooshes and
loops, not dissimilar from the Nike brand.

There will be a Reddit AMA with Nasa's spacesuit engineers on
Wednesday, so if you have any questions about the suit, be sure to
head over there.

For those that want to get involved, voting is now open
and will stay open until 15 April, 2014 at 11:59pm EDT (3:59am
on 16 April UK-time) .